Thai Curry and Tofu with Steamed Chard

This is as good as any Thai food you'll find in a restaurant and as Will said, "It took you only fifteen minutes to make!"

First of all, I didn't have time to make any meal plans for this week.  I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and wandered around aimlessly grabbing whatever looked good.  Usually I do not like to grocery shop like this.  It drives me nuts to not have meals in mind already!

Needless to say, I had no idea what was going to be for dinner tonight until I got home and assessed the contents of my kitchen.  I decided on Thai food.  The Panang Curry was a Trader Joes find and the tofu was made with a sauce I came up with.  I also had a TON of chard from my garden that needed to be consumed, so I steamed that and served everything up with some Jasmine rice!

Here's the meal:

1.  Trader Joe's Vegetable Panang Curry

 

2.  Tofu squares in a Spicy, chili, garlic, Tamari sauce

Whisk together 2 tablespoons each of Tamari and sesame oil with 1 tablespoon of chili-garlic sauce, with three cloves of crushed garlic.  Cut half a block of tofu into one-inch squares, about 1/4 inch thick.  Dry-fry the tofu for about five minutes on each side and when they are firm and slightly browned, pour the sauce over the tofu.  Stir until all tofu is covered and let simmer.

3.  Make jasmine rice.

4.  Steam fresh chard.

5.  Serve and enjoy with chopsticks!

Easy Peasy Pasta and Caesar Salad

Here's two more amazing recipes from my new favorite cookbook, Chloe's Kitchen!  I'm finally having some more time to cook during the week, so I am excited to try more of Chloe's recipes!  So far everything has turned out really well.  I followed these two recipes exactly according to her directions, so I'm just going to copy and paste from her cookbook.


Caesar Salad with Maple-Wheat Croutons
Maple-Wheat Croutons
6 slices whole-wheat bread, cut into 1/2 cubes (I actually used gluten-free bread here, but that's up to you)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  In a large bowl, toss bread cubes with oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper.  Spread the bread cubes in one layer onto a rimmed baking sheet.  Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until crisp and lightly browned, turning with a spatula every ten minutes.  

Caesar Dressing
1/4 cup soft tofu
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 table spoon apple-cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white miso paste
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
--In a blender or food processor, combine tofu, oil, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, miso, salt, and pepper.  Process until very smooth.

To serve, chop up some romaine lettuce, mix with Caesar dressing and add capers and maple croutons!
Yum!  Caesar Salad without the anchovies!

Now for the pasta.  We loved this!  In the cookbook, it's described as a pasta salad for traditional Italian events, but I served it warm and it was delicious.  The next day I tried the leftovers cold as if it were a salad, but decided that with gluten-free pasta, it just doesn't taste good cold.  So, if you're using corn pasta like I did, this is better served warm.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

1 small new potato, red or white, peeled and quartered
1 pound pasta (I used Trader Joes corn pasta, rotini)
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1 clove garlic
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon drained capers
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 heaping teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup cold water
2/3 cup olive oil

Place potato in a small saucepan and cover with salted water.  Bring to a boil and let cook until tender.  Drain, rinse with cold water, and let potatoes cool completely.

Cook pasta according to package.  Add frozen peas to the boiling pasta right before draining.  Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again.  Transfer pasta and peas to a large serving bowl.

Meanwhile, combine cooled potatoes, garlic, tomato paste, mustard, capers, oregano, basil, salt, and water in a food processor.  Slowly add the oil in a thin stream and process until smooth.  Toss pasta and peas with sauce, and adjust seasoning to taste.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.  (Remember, I served mine warm/hot and it was great.)

Will ate two huge helpings of both the Caesar salad and pasta, he loved everything so much.  It also might be a fact that I have a husband that is the best eater ever, but it's still nice to see someone enjoy my food as heartily as he does!  :)  This is a guy that loves to eat his steak and potatoes, so I think we can take this as a good sign that he loves my vegan, gluten-free cooking so much! 

Rice Casserole with Hearts of Palm

I found some cans of Hearts of Palm and really wanted to make something with them.  I googled what to make with Hearts of Palm, and there were a lot of recipes involving rice.  It also appears that this vegetable is traditional in Brazil and Argentina.  I got some ideas and came up with this:

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup cooked white rice, seasoned with turmeric and cumin
1 cup mushrooms, chopped or sliced
1 can hearts of palm, drained
1 cup Daiya vegan cheese to sprinkle on top

1.  Cook the two different kinds of rice.

2.  Cook mushrooms until they elude their juices.  

3.  When mushrooms are soft, add hearts of palm and lower heat to keep warm. 

4.  When rice is done, spread the brown rice in a casserole dish.  Layer some mushrooms and hearts of palm on top of brown rice.  Add the layer of white rice seasoned with tumeric and cumin.  Finish with a layer of the rest of the mushrooms and hearts of palm.  Sprinkle the Daiya vegan cheese on top. 

5.  Bake uncovered for an hour at 350. 

I served the dish with some Gardein Beefless Tips, which Will loved because they looked like steak. 

Dinner is served.

Pasta with Beet Sauce

This one was inspired from a recipe in Whole Living Magazine.  Click here for the original recipe or follow along below: 

Ingredients:

1 package baby beets from Trader Joes 
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped, crushed tomatoes
Red pepper flakes to taste
Sea salt to taste
8-10 oz Corn Pasta Spaghetti from Trader Joes

1.  Make spaghetti according to package.  Drain, and save 1 cup of the pasta water.  

2.  Microwave beets for about 20-30 seconds.  Blend beets, garlic, walnuts and tomatoes in a food processor or blender.  Season with the salt and red pepper flakes. 

3.  Mix beet sauce with pasta water and add to cooked spaghetti.  Stir well and serve immediately.  Sprinkle fresh, ground pepper on top and enjoy! 


I would never have thought of putting all this stuff together, but it was delicious!  The original recipe doesn't call for garlic, but I think it's necessary to offset the sweetness of the beets.  I liked it.
 

So Gong Don Tofu House

4127 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA 94306

Even though I try not to eat out a lot on work trips, I can't help finding a Korean Restaurant wherever I am in Northern California.  This one was perfect!  It had a ton of vegetarian options on their menu and everything was so delicious.  The banchan was so good, I asked for seconds and the server even packed extra to-go boxes of the sweet potato and transparent noodles for me!  I pulled those out at the airport later when I was delayed for-EVER. 

And of course I got my usual tofu soup with mushrooms.  Yum!

Work Trip Food

This is basically all I ate last week on my work trip:  Boring, yes, but better than eating out for every single meal. 

These are vegan AND gluten-free, and very delicious

Rice cakes!  A breakfast and snack staple.

Yes, this is weird, but I will literally eat spinach right out of the bag.

This goes with the spinach.  It's like a "snack" salad.

Beet Sliders

These are with whole wheat slider buns.  See gluten-free option below.

 This was a meal wholly conceived and executed by Will.  I had absolutely nothing to do with it, and it was awesome.

He got the idea from a Guy Fieri show and this recipe is used at the restaurant, Gatsby's, in Sacramento. Click here for the recipe from Food Network.

Hello, AMAZING!  I mean everything about this meal was just awesome, especially the fact that my husband came up with the idea to make it and then made it!  The only thing I did was make the vegan ranch spread, but he had requested that in advance, and of course I was happy to help.

Will prepares the sliders.  See my ranch spread in the background

His comment on the ranch:

"MMM.  That.  Is.  Good.  That is so much better than real Ranch.  Why can't they just make Ranch without dairy because that is so good!"

My comment on the beet sliders:

"Oh.  My.  Goodness.  These are SO GOOD!  I love them!  You HAVE to make these again."

All eight sliders were scarfed down in a matter of seconds.

I made mine open-faced with gluten-free bread.  They were delicious!